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Former president Robert Kocharian announces return to Armenian politics

17 August 2018

Armenia's former president Robert Kocharian announced a return to politics on Thursday (16 August) in a television interview during which he also slammed the new authorities in Yerevan saying they had fabricated charges against him, and describing them as inexperienced.

Kocharian was sent to preventive detention earlier this month whilst he is being investigated in connection with the clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement officers in 2008, in the aftermath of presidential elections, during which a number of people were killed. But a court in Yerevan om Monday ordered his release.

In a long interview on Yerkir Media TV Kocharian appeared defiant, if somewhat bitter. He dismissed the claims that the popular uprising in Armenia in the spring was a revolution, saying the term what being used as an excuse to clamp down on people who disagreed with the new government  who were being branded counter revolutionaries.

Kocharian refused to say which form his new political activity will take. His return to Armenian politics is however a serious challenge to the new government. Armenia's prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, is due to mark the first 100 days of his government this weekend with a public rally which will be a test of the government's popularity.

source: commonspace.eu with agencies

photo: Robert Kocharian (archive picture)

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